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When my Grandma wanted people to know that she had hosted a swanky party for her social club she would: 1) Write or call the local newspaper2) Provide a one or two line sentence 3) Wait for someone to write it up4) Wait for the newspaper to be published5) Wait for the newspaper to be distributed6) Receive a telephone call or post card at home or go out into town to receive acknowledgements from people. This "news" didn't reach much further (unless it was really noteworthy, then someone in Sheboygan might tell someone in Kiel- hooray!)

When I want to let people know that I spent Friday night watching FRIENDS reruns on Netflix, I:1) Pick up smart phone2) Write one or two line sentence (140 characters, people!)3) Optional: take picture of bowl of popcorn and filter it so that it looks better than it tastes4) Put it on Instagram which will sync to my Twitter 5) Wait for people to tell me how delicious my popcorn looks or how much they love FRIENDS too 6) Bonus: receive follows, likes, and retweets from total strangers in places like Finland or Morocco. Sit back and enjoy more popcorn while feeling like a global citizen.

so what's the point?

uWe (myself included) tend to have a romanticized idea of what life was like the in the past. We think that times were simpler and that people were more meaningfully connected. And true, there's no doubt that smart phones and the Internet has revolutionized society and culture. Just the sole fact that I can write this blog post and put it out for anyone in the world to read within minutes is pretty extraordinary.

But let's face it: it is technology that has changed, not people.

If our ancestors had access to a smartphone or the Internet back in 1930, you better believe that they would be sharing pictures of mediocre homemade meals or the amount of snow in their driveway.

I bring this up because a) I love researching family history history and stumbled upon these newspapers blurbs last night and b) I finished reading The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr . Those two seemingly different junctures came together so clearly as I looked at the old newspaper articles and thought "who in the world would post newspaper accounts of playing Bunco or visiting an uncle in a neighboring town?" and then I realized that I have posted anything from enjoying a walk during my lunch hour to a picture of a napkin with a funny quote. And for all intents and purposes,﻿ it's the same thing.

Yes, technology has the ability to change people and how we function. For example, papyrus scrolls and clocks have significantly shifted the course of human history and the Internet is no exception. But when it comes down to it: humans are social people who want to share their lives, ideas, and opinions with others. Always have and always will.